


Take care of me

by gusulanbaby (bigleosis)



Category: EXO (Band), SHINee, SuperM (Korea Band)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Jongin has a cold, Jongin is overworked, M/M, Pen's out for Kai, Sick Character, Taemin is not amused, Taemin takes care of Jongin, Worried Taemin, it's not angsty i swear, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27837283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigleosis/pseuds/gusulanbaby
Summary: It had started with a slight scratchy feeling in his throat.Jongin hadn't thought much about it. It tended to happen. Especially when he was sleep-deprived and in the middle of preparing a new choreography, recording for SuperM, taking photos, making MVs for their songs. All in all his schedule was filled to the brim, he didn't have much time to rest. His sleep pattern was fucked up and he was glad when he could get a few hours every night. He took naps on breaks when it was possible and none of their Maknae's needed his attention.But his sore throat had turned into a stuffed nose and pain in his ears and a full-blown headache over the day. Every time Jongin bent down he thought his eyes would explode from the pressure behind them and every hard impact made his head throb.He was exhausted, his body was screaming for a break. One that Jongin wasn't ready to take yet.
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Lee Taemin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 64





	Take care of me

**Take care of me**

a contribution for ‘Pens out for Kai’

It had started with a slight scratchy feeling in his throat. 

Jongin hadn't thought much about it. It tended to happen. Especially when he was sleep-deprived and in the middle of preparing a new choreography, recording for SuperM, taking photos, making MVs for their songs. All in all his schedule was filled to the brim, he didn't have much time to rest. His sleep pattern was fucked up and he was glad when he could get a few hours every night. He took naps on breaks when it was possible and none of their Maknae's needed his attention.

But his sore throat had turned into a stuffed nose and pain in his ears and a full-blown headache over the day. Every time Jongin bent down he thought his eyes would explode from the pressure behind them and every hard impact made his head throb.

He was exhausted, his body was screaming for a break. One that Jongin wasn't ready to take yet.

Jongin was alone in the dance studio by now. It was way past midnight, the others had left hours ago but he wanted to bring that choreography to perfection and when he had to pull an all-nighter again, so be it.

He went through the first sequences of the dance without a problem. It was when he reached the part with a turn and jump move that a strong pain flashed through his head. Jongin lost balance, landed wrong and crashed to the floor. The impact sent another electric-feeling shock through his body and Jongin groaned loudly. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to catalogue the damage the fall had on him. 

His foot hurt. It was the one where he already had injured the ligaments twice before and it wasn’t ideal. But the pain was bearable, so it wasn’t that bad he concluded. Aside from that his whole body seemed to hurt. From his toes to the tips of his fingers everything throbbed from the long day of practising and probably his cold. Because it wasn’t ‘just a sore throat’, Jongin had to admit. This was a full-blown cold. He was about 90percent sure that he was running a fever too. And the cold hardwood floor of the dance studio didn’t help with that either. He was already freezing as it was.

Jongin pushed himself up with a groan, a wave of dizziness hitting him out of nowhere and he sat on the floor for a few moments. He considered calling Taemin for a second. But it was in the middle of the night. Last time he had checked it was close to 1 am and his boyfriend was probably asleep by now. At least Jongin hoped so. Taemin’s schedule was as packed as his, with the promotion for his own solo-comeback, the promotion and shoots for SuperM and his upcoming TV show.

He didn't want to bother him. It wasn't necessary. He would go through the choreo one last time and head home, getting a few hours of sleep and would be as good as new. No need to worry Taemin or his manager.

Jongin pushed himself up from the floor when a new wave of vertigo hit him. Maybe it was better when he stayed in a lying position. The floor was hard, for sure, and cold, but he could sleep here. All he needed to do was set his alarm that he would be awake before the others arrived. There was still a new set of clothes in his locker, so he should be safe and no one would be the wiser that he stayed here all night, slowly dying on the ground because of a little cold.

Just a little nap and he would be as good as new.

**~*~**

The next time Jongin opened his eyes he was surrounded by warmth and darkness, a soft pillow under his cheek and wrapped up in one of the warmest blankets that had ever existed. With a soft sigh, he turned, snuggled deeper into the cosy fabric and drifted off again. This was nice. So so nice.

Jongin startled a bit when a warm hand pushed through his hair, thumb caressing his eyebrow, a well-known body plastered against his back, one arm tightly wrapped around his chest.

“You with me, Nini?” Taemin’s warm voice asked quietly and he hummed in agreement. “You are at home. I found you passed out in the studio. You scared the shit out of me.” Tender lips pressed against his temple. “I called in, we are staying home today, so you can recover.”

“But your schedule,” Jongin mumbled into the pillows.

“Yeah, as if I could concentrate a single second knowing you will push yourself too hard and not resting,” Taemin stated. “We are staying home and I will take care of you,” he said with finality and no space for arguments.

“‘kay,” Jongin agreed sleepy before he turned, pressing his face against Taemin’s chest, snuggling closer to his boyfriend. “Now sleep.”

Taemin brought his hand back into Jongin’s hair, massaging his scalp carefully to lessen his headache while he hummed an unknown tune under his breath, lulling Jongin back to sleep.

**~*~**

The next morning Jongin was alone in bed when he opened his eyes but he could hear Taemin talking. Jongin sat up, fingers raking through his sleep mussed hair. He felt like shit. His head was still pounding, his eyes felt dry, his nose stuffed so he had to breath through his mouth to get enough air. He also felt kind of sweaty and was disgusted with himself because he hadn’t been able to shower after practice yesterday.

As he was about to swing his legs out of bed, the door opened and he was confronted with his boyfriend, unamused look on his face, eyebrow raised at him, leaning against the doorframe.

“And you think you are doing what now, Kim Jongin?”

Uh-oh … his full name. He was in deep deep trouble.

“Uh … shower?”

Taemin pushed himself off of the doorframe and walked to Jongin, finger pointed at him, eyes furious. He really was intimidating when he was angry.

“No,” Taemin said when he was face to face with Jongin, finger pressing against his chest. “I tell you what you will do now. You will lie back down and stay in bed as long as I seem fit. You fainted in the dance studio this morning, Jongin! When I didn’t hear from you for hours I called Baekhyun to ask him if you were alright and he said you weren’t home yet. So I went to the studio just to find you passed out on the cold floor! You had a fever, Jongin! You still do and I will make sure you stay here until you are better.” Taemin looked him in the eyes. “Lie back down.”

Jongin complied, not wanting to upset Taemin further. The older hummed appreciatively when he tucked him back in and brushed his hand over his head before he sat down on the side of the bed, fingers resting against Jongin’s cheek.

“I know you hate being sick Jongin. But … I was so worried. You have to take better care of yourself. I don’t know what I would do without you, Nini. So please, be more careful. For me?”

Jongin pressed his face into Taemin’s warm hand. “‘m sorry Taeminnie. I didn’t think much of it. Thought it was the stress.”

“Yeah,” Taemin hummed. “Apparently not. We will stay here today. I have some soup on the stove to warm up if you want something to eat. You hungry?”

Jongin nodded shortly and Taemin leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll be right back. Try to get some more rest, yeah?”

“‘kay,” Jongin agreed, eyes already closing again.

There was another kiss, this time on his cheek before Taemin retreated his hand and stood back up to leave the room. Jongin let himself sink back into the mattress, into the soft pillow smelling of Taemin. This was good, maybe he really should take the time to get better. 

And it was nice for a change that someone else took care of him. Especially when it was Taemin.

Jongin was brought back from his nap a bit later when Taemin slid into bed and arranged him so that he was resting against his chest, his body bracketed between Taemin’s legs, feet pressed underneath Jongin’s thighs to keep them warm. Somehow Taemin always had cold feet, no matter what he did.

His head rested against one of Taemin’s shoulders and for the first time, it occurred to Jongin that he could infect Taemin with his cold and tried to move away. But Taemin wouldn’t have any of it and pulled him back.

“Stay,” he said, nosing on Jongin’s temple. “It’s nice to have you all to myself. I missed that.”

Jongin hummed in agreement. The last months had been so so busy for both of them. The pandemic situation, SuperM, preparing for their own solo comeback’s. There hadn’t been much time to spend together. At least not alone.

So Jongin settled back against Taemin’s chest who grabbed the bowl of soup from the bedside table and held out the spoon to him. Jongin took it and it needed some shuffling from both of them so he could eat properly but they made it work. The soup was good and Jongin ate it all because he realised after the first sip how hungry he really was.

When he was finished he placed the bowl back and snuggled closer to Taemin, who had one arm wrapped around his stomach, hand moving in slow circles over his tummy, the other was slung carefully around his neck. Jongin placed his hand over the one on his stomach and intertwined their fingers.

“This is nice,” Jongin said quietly. “Missed that a lot too.”

Taemin rested his temple against Jongin’s. “Maybe we should try to make space for more alone time? I know the next weeks and months will be a tight fit, but we could make it work if we only want it.”

Jongin turned his head a bit, looking into Taemin’s face. “Move in with me.” 

Taemin jerked his head back, staring at Jongin with wide eyes. “What?” he croaked.

They never had talked about it before. But it had been on Jongin’s mind over and over again during the last few months. His need to spend all his free time with Taemin only grew stronger over the last few weeks.

“Move in with me,” he repeated. “I thought about it a lot and it would solve the problem to spend more time together? When we would live in the same flat. We can make it work and I know you want it too.”

Taemin stared at him for a few more moments, the gears in his brain turning fast. “You … you are serious,” he breathed.

Jongin nodded. “I am. Only if you want of course. I know it’s a big step. But on the other hand, you’d be able to look after me more often.”

Taemin blinked a few times before he pulled Jongin in with the arm around his neck and kissed him square on the mouth, startling a surprised noise out of Jongin.

“You stupid bear! Of course, I want to move in with you, Nini.” Taemin kissed him again, a big smile on his face. “I love you, Kim Jongin.”

“Good,” he hummed against Taemin’s lips, his eyes closing again as tiredness overtook him once again. “I love you too, Lee Taemin.”

And this time it wasn’t all that bad when Taemin used his full name because a warm feeling spread through his body that wasn’t related to the fever. Taemin pulled the blanket over them and scooted lower onto the bed, so Jongin was lying flat on his chest.

“Sleep, Nini bear.” A kiss to his forehead. “When you are healthy again we can talk about me moving in with you.”

Taemin wrapped his arm around Jongin’s head and held him tenderly.

Yeah, when he was well again, they would talk about their future together.

A future he wanted to spend with his Taeminnie.

Forever.


End file.
